REPORT 037
BLUE PLANET AQUARIUM
Company: Stouenborg Location: Øresund, Denmark
With its striking architecture aptly suggesting a giant whirlpool, the new Blue Plan- et Aquarium near Copenhagen pulls visitors deep into an enchantingly immersive experience of underwater sights and sounds. Certainly the star attractions are the some 20,000 fish, birds, and marine mammals, but the live visual experience is enhanced by the dynamic soundscapes of waves, wind, and birds - sometimes mixed with appropriately subtle ambient music - that accompany visitors as they move through the aquarium. At the heart of Blue Planet Aquarium’s ambitious audiovisual system design is Meyer Sound’s D-Mitri digital audio platform, which manages multi-channel audio playback, mixing, signal matrixing, digital signal processing, and signal distribution along with show control functions encompassing the coolux Pandora’s Box media servers, Sennheiser wireless microphones, and an MA Lighting grandMA 2 lighting desk. The D-Mitri solution was specified by Anders Jørgensen, principal of the audiovis- ual consultancy and integration firm Stouenborg. Anders was responsible for the design of all audio systems, and he also took charge of the intricate sound design for the aquarium, working in the studio to prepare 415 discrete audio tracks that would be mixed and balanced onsite using D-Mitri. One D-Mitri feature of particular note is the Meyer Sound SpaceMap multichannel surround panning, which allows dynamic panning of sound across and around a virtually unlimited number of individually addressable loudspeakers. “For example, in the undersea tunnel I could have the sound of a wave in sync with the visual trav- eling from one end to the other,” he commented. “And in the Faroe Islands exhibit the bird sounds are flying around the room.” To realise dynamic sound movements, each loudspeaker had to be individually addressable, something best achieved with self-powered systems. For all prin- cipal audio systems at Blue Planet, Ander specified more than 50 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers - MM-4XP, UP-4XP, UPJ-1P - and five subwoofers including the MM-10’s and the USW-1Ps. Most of the loudspeakers employ Meyer Sound’s proprietary low-voltage technology, with DC power for the internal ampli- fiers delivered - over a single cable along with audio signal - from a remote power supply. “The low-voltage self-powered loudspeakers are very efficient in terms of power draw,” commented Anders, “requiring perhaps half the current compared to a design using multiple rack amplifiers and long speaker cables.” From the earliest stages of the project, Anders worked closely with the archi- tecture firm 3XN, exhibit designers Kvorning Design, and acousticians Gade & Mortensen Akustik to ensure that the sounds were present and involving, but never too loud or distracting. Because the system carries informative announcements as well as ambient sounds, high intelligibility was also critical. Final measurements of speech intelligibility (STI) ranged from 0.8 to 0.9 in most areas, an exceptional result considering the large room volumes and expansive glass surfaces. Blue Planet Aquarium is not only Northern Europe’s largest aquarium, claiming quite likely the most imaginative architecture of any aquarium on the planet, but it also sets new benchmarks for seamlessly integrating the dynamic sounds of marine life into the visitor’s experience.
www.stouenborg.dk
www.mondodr.com
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